Relay



A. F. MEYER July 1, 1930.

RELAY Filed June 11, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 [raven/i02 4004 PH FM: YER 9&4, MW

jTTOPA/EKT y 1, 1930. A. F. MEYER 1,768,918

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RELAY Filed June 11, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 7'3 '75 3e ,4 /gjz g DOZP/f EYE? F76. 5

IT roe/vs s Patented July 1, 1930 ADOLPE II. YER, 01' 8'1. PAUL, MINNESOTA RELAY Application filed June 11,

y This invention relates to new and useful im rovements in relays,

general object of the invention is to provide an apparatus using fluid means to produce motion in rela mechanisms.

A more specific o ject is to provide a relay ada ted for use in connection with a control mec anism such as set forth in my prior pending application, Serial No. 170,041, filed February 21, 1927. Y

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic relay comprising a tube, pendently supported at one end by means of a flexible connection havin one end secured to a supporting member suc for instance, as a pipe, one end of which is connected to a suitable source of fluid supply pressure, whereby a continuous stream of water or other fluid may be constantly discharged from the lower or free end of the tube against a movable surface, and the pressure of the dischar 'n fluid on such surface producing the desire effect either directly or indirectly, by setting other mechanisms or means to work.

A further object of the invention is to grovide a hydraulic relay comprising a tube aving one end flexibly connected to a source of fluid ressure, and havin its free end positione over a movable sur ace associated with the mechanism to be controlled, and the tube also being associated with said mechanism whereby the position of the free end of the tube is controlled by said mechanism to direct the discharging fluid against said movable surface or away from it, as demanded by that which is to be controlled.

A further and more specific object is to provide a relay comprising a pendently supported tube havin its upper end connected with a source of uid pressure, and havin its lower end provided with an orifice throug which the fluid is discharged under pressure, and a pair of bucket-like members pivotally mounted beneath the free or discharge end 1927. Serial I0. 198,205.

of the tube and having their adjacent ends spaced apart to permit the discharging fluid to ass therebetween without actuatin the hue ets. Each bucket carries a contact a apted to be moved into and out of electrical connection with a fixed contact to control the opening and closing of acircuit. The tube is operatively associated with a control or measuring device, for example, a wattmeter. Motion of the wattmeter hand induced by the mechanism to be controlled causes the tube to direct the discharging fluid into one bucket or the other to control the opening and closing of circuits such, for instance, as those used to control the o ration of regu- 60 lators employed in connection with grinders commonly used in the production of wood pulp in paper mills.

A further object is to provide a hydraulic relay having pivotally mounted buckets or 65 fluid-receiving members equipped with counterweights located at a higher elevation than the pivots of the members to give reducing counterweight leverage on circuit-closing movement of the members, and increasing counterweight leverage on opening movement of the members, thereby avoiding hesitation.

A further object is to provide a hydraulic relay comprisin a pair of pivotally mounted buckets or flui receiving members having their adjacent ends provided with knife edges which are positioned above the axes of the pivots of the members so as to cause the buckets or members to intercept increasing portionsof the discharging fluid on clos- 8o ing movement, and to intercept decreasing portions of the fluid on opening movement, to avoid hesitation of the members when moving from circuit-opening to circuit-closing position, and vice versa.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a hydraulic relay having means for relatively adjusting the buckets towards and away from each other for the purpose of increasing or decreasing the amount of fluid in- 90 tercepted thereby, for any given sideways movement of the tube and jet; to provide means for limiting the movement of the free end of the tube; and, in the general construction of the apparatus as a whole.

The particular object of the invention therefore is to provide a hydraulic relay particularly adapted to make and break electrical circuits with a positive action, that is, without hesitation and the accon'ipanying tendency toward serious arcing at the contacts followed by rapid deterioration, pitting and failure to close or open.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description and accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the annexed claims.

In the accompanying drawings, there has been disclosed a structure designed to carry out the various objects of the invention, but it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the exact features shown, as various changes may be made within the scope of the claims which follow.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification;

Figure 1 is an elevational view, partially broken away, showing the general construction of the improved relay;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the relative position and travel of the knife edges of the buckets with respect to the horizontal center line of the pivots upon which the buckets or fluid receiving members are mounted;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detailed view showing the discharge end of the tube; and

Figure 5 is a wiring diagram showing an application of the relay when used to automatically control the operation of regulators such as are used to automatically control wood grinders.

Figure 6 is a view corresponding generally with the disclosure of Figure but show ing a modified form of relay.

The selected embodiment of the invention as shown in Figure 1 comprises a frame-like structure 2 having a receptacle 3 at its lower portion. One. wall of the receptacle has an opening 4 therein which is provided with a closure or cover 5, shown in Figure 2.

A tube 6. preferably of metal, is suspended in a vertical position from a nipple 7 by means of a flexible connection 8 such, for instance, as a piece of rubber tubing. The tube 6 is supplied with fluid under pressure from a pipe 9 having one end connected with the nipple 7 and its other end connected to asuitable source of supply such as the pump 11, having its intake side connected by a pipe 12 to the lower portion of the receptacle 3. hen connected in the manner above described, and as shown in Figure 1, the fluid or water will be circulated through the relay by the pump 11, which may be driven by any suitable means such as a motor, not shown. If desired, an outside source of fluid supply may be utilized, in which case the pump 11 may be dispensed with, it being understood, however, that in order to properly and accurately supply the relay, a stream of water must be continually discharged from the opening 13 at the discharge end of the tube 6, as shown particularly in Figure 4.

In order to effect the operation of this relay, the phenomena which it is intended to control by means of some regulating mechanism must be operatively associated with the depending tube 6. In the drawings, I have shown a wattmeter measuring the electric current to be controlled and having an indicating hand 14 pivotally mounted at 15 upon a suitable base 16. A rod 17 connects the hand 14 of the wattmeter with the tube 6 so that, when the hand is moved by the electrical pull, the movement will be transmitted to the tube 6, as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 5. A tension spring 18 has one end connected to the tube 6 and its other end adjustably secured to a lug 19 whereby an opposin pull or force is exerted on the tube 6. Thus, it will be noted that the hand 14 of the wattmeter tends to pull the tube 6 in one direction and the tension of the spring 18 tends to pull the tube in the other direction.

The relay, as here shown, is adapted to control the opening and closing of two circuits. The opening and closing of these circuits is effected by the movement of a pair of pivotally mounted buckets or fluid-receiving members 21, pivotally mounted within the recap tacle 3 on pivot pins 22. These pivot pins are supported by forked hangers 23, each having a. reduced extension 24 adjustably secured in the rear wall of the frame 2, as shown in Figure 2. Fibre washers 25 are preferably provided to frictionally retain the hangers 23 in their adjusted positions. Each bucket 21 has a knife edge 26 adapted to intercept the jet of water from the opening 13 of the tube, as shown at the right hand side of Figure 1. The end wall 27 of each bucket is also curved as shown to receive the dynamic pressure and to direct the water outwardly towards the discharge opening 28- of the buckets as indicated by the arrows in Figure 1. Each bucket is further provided with a curved wall 29 adjacent the discharge opening thereof. Such wall is positioned below the pivot pins 22 so that, before the water is discharged from the bucket, it will exert additional dynamic pressure tending to rock the bucket into circuitclosing position.

A movable contact 30 is carried by a counterweight 31 at the rear end of each bracket and each contact 30 is adapted selectively to effect circuit-closure with one of the fixed contacts 32 and 33. It will also be noted that the edge 26 of each bucket 21 is arranged to travel downward from a point above the horizontal center line of the pivots 22 as indicated by the dotted line in Figure 3, thus causing the descending knife edge to gradual] intercept an increasing portion of the jet 0 water discharging from the tube. When the bucket engaged by the water commences its downward or circuit-closing movement, the rate of motion will be rapidly increased with the resultant rapid closing of the contacts. Likewise, the counterweights 31 are also arranged so as to be above the horizontal center line of the pivots 22, so that on circuit-closing movement of the bucket,they will have progressively decreasing movement. On the circuitopening movement of the bucket, the knife e ge interce ts a progressively decreasing portion of t e jet, and the counterweight movement is progressively increased, thereby avoiding the usual tendency toward arcing at the contacts.

An interlockin mechanism is provided to prevent both buc ets from being moved into circuit-closing position at the same time. This mechanism comprises a pivotally mounted member 34 adapted to engage the adjacent end portions of the buckets 21, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. B means of this interlocking member, the two uckets cannot be retained in circuit-closing osition at the same time. This will readily e seen by reference to Figure 1 wherein it will be noted that when the bucket at the left hand side of the figure commences its downward or circuit-closing movement, the outside end thereof will engage the. raised end of the member 34, therebymoving it downwardly and at the same time causin the right hand bucket to be moved upwar ly into circuit-closing position.

Stops 35 are provided for limitin the upward movement of the buckets 21 an also for vertically adjusting the positions of the knife edges thereof with respect to the horizontal center line through the pivots 22, indicated by the broken line a-a in Figure 3. Sto s 36 are pivotally mounted in the frame 2 a ove the top wall 37 of the receptacle 3. These latter stops provide means for limiting the side movement of the free end of the tube within the receptacle 3. An opening 38 is provided in the top wall 37 of the receptacle, through which the free end of the tu e 6 is inserted, as shown'in Figure 1.

The construction of the hydraulic relay set forth in this application is such that the action of the buckets 21 is positive and very sensitive, thus providing a device which, when used to open and close electric circuits, will have a quick make-and-break action, thus eliminating the tendency towards arcing at the contacts which is the usual phenomenon in initial contact-making mechanisms. The inner ends or knifeedges 26 of the buckets 21 are also positioned so that they are normally above the horizontal center line H of the pivots 22, upon which the buckets are supported whereby that portion of the jet of water which the bucket intercepts when moving downwardly, will increase and therefore the force tending to move the bucket tip downward will also increase. (See Figure 3.) Also, by placing the counterweights 31 above the axes of the pivots 22 of the buckets, the movement of the counterweight decreases on contact-closing movement, while at the same time the force of the intercepted jet increases. The result therefore is that once the bucket starts into contact-closing position, it will continue to move forward with accelerated movement until the contacts are moved into positive closing osition. In similar manner, when the kni e edge of the bucket moves upwardly and the bucket starts to assume a circuit-opening position, the force of the intercepted jet becomes less and the movement of the counterweight becomes greater, thus resulting in a sitive opening motion. It will, therefore, l gseen that in this improved relay the contacts are both opened and closed with a positive force, and hesitation is impossible.

Each bucket tip is preferably provided with a shield 94, which terminates in a sharp edge 95, for the purpose of preventing the water or fluid from adhering to the outside portion of the bucket tip for any considerable distance, as it would otherwise do.

In Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings, there is diagrammatically illustrated a form of this novel relay utilized to automatically control the operation of a plurality of mechanisms for regulating the operation of grinders used in the manufacture of wood pulp. in the installation, diagrammatically disclosed, there is shown a three-wire power line 39 to which a plurality of electric motors 41, 42, 43, and 44 are connected. These motors may be considered as driving machinery used in the paper mill. The motor 44 is shown operatively connected to a grinder 45 having a pocket 46, in which is mounted a piston 47 to which water is supplied by a ipe 48, having a valve 49 interposed therein or governing the water pressure admitted to the piston. The valve, here shown, is of the balanced type, and comprises a stem 51 having a pivotal connection with a lever 52, mounted upon a pin 53 secured to a suitable support 54, as shown. To the opposite end of the lever 52 is connected a tension spring 55, which is connected to an adjusting screw or stem 56 movably connected with a mechanism 57. This mechanism functions to automatically adjust the tension of the spring 55 to control the opening and closing of the valve 49 to regulate the water pressure on the piston 47 of the inder 45. I

T 0 operation of this mechanism is automatically controlled by the load variation in the power line 39. This mechanism 57 was shown and described in detail in the above mentioned pending application, and it is therefore thought unnecessary to show same in detail in this application. An armature 58 of a solenoid 59 has one end pivotally connected to the lever 52, intermediate its ends, and this solenoid is energized by the induced current set up in the circuit 61, inductively associated by a winding 62 with one of the three feed wires connecting the grinder motor ll with the power line 39. The result is that the solenoid is energized in direct proportion to the current used by the grinder motor 44, and, as a result of the energized condition of the solenoid 59, the armature 58 constantly exerts an upward pull upon the lever 52 in opposition to the spring 55.

The tube 6 of the relay is operated by means of the hand 1& of the wattmeter 16, as hereinbefore stated. This wattmeter is electrically associated with the power line 39 by means of circuits 63, 64, 65, and 66. Potential transformers 67 are interposed in the circuits 63 and 66 and current transformers 68 inductively connect the circuits 61 and with the power line 39.

The contacts 30 and 32, and 30 and 33 which, in reality, form starting switches for the control mechanism 57, are adapted to be moved into circuit-closing and circuitopening positions, by movement of the depending tube 6, actuated by the hand 14 of the wattmeter 16.

Each mechanism 57 is adapted to be operated by a pair of solenoids 69 and 71, each having a plunger or core 72 having a link connection with the mechanism, as shown in Fig ure 5. The solenoids for each mechanism 57 are adapted to be operated independently of each other, as for example, when the solenoid 69 is operated, the mechanism 57 may be actuated to move the adjusting screw 56 in a direction to increase the tension of the spring 55 and conversely, when the solenoid T1 is operated, the mechanism may be actuated to move the adjusting screw 56 in the opposite direction to decrease the tension of the spring 55. The actuation of the mechanisms 57 is therefore controlled by the energization of the solenoids 69 and 71.

The windings of each pair of solenoids 69 and 71 are connected together by wires 73, each having a wire T t connecting it with a conductor 75 having one end electrically connected to a circuit-breaker 76, operable by a small motor 77. The circuit breaker 76 has a contact 7 8 adapted to be engaged by an arm or movable contact 79, having a wire 81 connecting it with the secondary 82 of a transformer 83. The primary 84 of the trans former is electrically connected to the power line 39, as shown. The purpose of the transformer 83 is to step down the high voltage of the power line so that a low voltage circuit is provided to operate the solenoids 69 and 71. Vires 85 connect the solenoids 69 with the conductor 86, and similar wires 87 connect the solenoids 69 with the conductor 88. The conductor 86 has one end connected to the stationary contact post 32 of the hydraulic relay and the conductor 88 is similarly connected to the post 33 of the relay. The movable contacts 30 of the relay buckets 21 may be connected by a wire 89, as shown in the wiring diagram, or they may be grounded to the frame 2, as shown in Figure 1, the result, of course, being the same. A wire 91 electrically connects the contacts 30 with the other side of the secondary 82 of the transformer 83, and wires 92 and 93 electrically connect the motor 7 7 respectively with the wires 81 and 91, connected to the secondary of the transformer 83. Thus, when current is flowing through the power line 39, the motor 77 will be continuously operated to rotate the circuit-breaker arm 79 so that each time one of these solenoid circuits is closed through one of the movable contacts 30 of the hydraulic relay, such circuit will be alternately opened and closed to simultaneously actuate all of the mechanisms 57 connected with the conductors 75, 86, and 88.

From the foregoing, therefore, it will readily be understood that the operation of the mechanisms 57 is automatically controlled by the movement of the buckets 21, actuated by the jet of water discharging from the free end of the tube 6, the operation of which is automatically controlled by the action of the hand 1-1 of the wattmeter 16, or by any other movable device to which it may be operatively connected.

It will therefore be understood that by the employment of this simple hydraulic relay, in connection with an installation such as diagrammatically illustrated in Figure 5, the motor-load-actuated, pressure-reducing valves 49 will be operated to automatically control the pressure on the pistons 47 in response to the movements of the hand 14 of the wattmeter 16. This hydraulic relay is therefore well adapted for use in connection with apparatus such as illustrated in Figure 5, and it is also well adapted for remote control of indicators or gauges, displaying or recording different phenomena, such as waterlevels, positions of hydraulic gates, mechanism operations, pressures, etc, and wherever electrical circuits are to be opened and closed automatically.

Figure 6 illustrates amodiiied form,wherein buckets 96 are utilized in place of the elongated buckets 21. shown and described in the previous figures. The buckets 96 are designed to slow up the action of the mechanism to be operated, which. in this case, as in the previous figures, comprises pairs of contacts 97 and 98 adapted to, be moved into and out of circuit-closing position. Each bucket 96 has a discharge aperture 99 in its bottom, through which the fluid discharges when the jet is discharging water into the bucket. The size of this aperture is such that the delivery of water into the cup from the tube 6 is faster than the discharging of the water therefrom, thereby causing the water to accumulate in the bucket until the weight of accumulated water is suflicient to overbalance the counterweight 101, after which the bucket will be moved into circuit-closed position as shown at the ri ht of Figure 6. If it is desired to have an e ectrical circuit, either open or closed at all times, a single bucket will suflice.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a relay, the combination with a circuit-controlling fluid-receiving element, and a support for said element, of a conduit capable of movement in direction toward and from said support and adapted to conve fluid to a portion of said element spaced rom said support, said element bein adapted to have movement into and out of fluid issuing from said conduit, whereby movement of said element can cause varying portions of fluid to be delivered to said mentioned portion of said element.

2. In a relay, the combination with a circuit-controlling fluid-receiving element, and a support for said element, of a conduit caable of movement in direction toward and om said support and adapted while in substantially stationary position to convey fluid to a portion of said element spaced from said support, said element being adapted to have movement into and out of fluid issuing from said conduit, whereby movement of said element can cause varying portions of fluid to be delivered to said mentioned portion of said element.

3. The combination with a fluid-receiving element, of a conduit adapted to at times be positioned adjacent said element to deliver a predetermined part of a stream of fluid issuing therefrom to a portion of said element and to at times be positioned at greater distance from said element so that none of said fluid stream strikes said element, said predetermined part stream of fluid being adapted to strike said element to move said portion transversely of said stream to thus cause an increased amount of said stream to strike said element, and means for causing said element to be situated, when said conduit is at said greater distance from said element, so that said predetermined part of the stream can again strike said portion when said conduit shall have been again moved to said position adjacent the element.

4. In a relay, the combination with a pair of electrical circuits, a fluid-receiving element for each circuit, and a support for each element, of a conduit capable of movement in direction toward and from each support and 

